


This Rising Tide

by eleanor_lavish



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Time, Frottage, M/M, Wall Sex, unabashed geekiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-25
Updated: 2013-07-25
Packaged: 2017-12-21 09:01:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/898414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eleanor_lavish/pseuds/eleanor_lavish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny really didn't know he could find a guy to crush on who combined his love of twinks with his secret desire to be manhandled, but hey. Thank god for werewolves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Rising Tide

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Merelyn and Allecto who let me flail at them about this all over the place, and to MistressCurvy, my always and forever cheerleader and excellent beta. <3
> 
> Title from FOB's The Phoenix. (PUT ON YOUR WAR PAINT!)

Danny only has so much time in his life for fucked up people. Isaac Lahey was fucked up when they were both freshmen, Isaac scared of his own shadow, tripping over his own gangly limbs. Danny noticed him then, noticed the way his hair would fall in his eyes when it got too long, the dimples in his cheeks when someone managed to finally, finally coax a smile out of him. He even noticed the way Isaac’s eyes would follow him sometimes - in the hallways, in the locker room - a slight flush coloring his cheeks when Danny smiled at him. But Danny had Jackson to deal with in the ‘fucked-up people’ department, and he was dealing with his own coming out shit, which is hard no matter how much your parents love you. He didn’t have time for Isaac Lahey and his puppy-dog eyes. 

And now Danny is applying for college and trying to stay under the radar with his hacking and keeping in shape for his last season of lacrosse and maybe, possibly trying to hook up with a cute freshman. So he totally doesn’t have time for fucked up people, and he doesn’t have time for closet cases, and he _definitely_ doesn’t have time for whatever bullshit Stiles and McCall are clearly still up to, that Isaac seems to be caught up in these days. 

But all that was easier to sell to himself when Jackson was around, or when lacrosse season was on. The thing with the "not having time for that kind of shit" excuse is that it’s hard to maintain it when, in your senior year when you’re supposed to be at the pinnacle of the high school social order, suddenly your best friend fucking deserts you and _all you have is time_. So maybe it’s not that he doesn’t have time, per se, but that he’s not going to get sucked into whatever Beacon Hills insanity is happening this year, not even when he catches Isaac Lahey staring at him with those huge, blue eyes after gym one afternoon, his shirt still balled in his hand, his chest looking _way_ more defined than Danny remembers from a year ago. 

Or, maybe Isaac isn’t staring at Danny. Maybe he’s staring at Ethan, who has one elbow propped on the locker next to Danny’s, smiling in a way that makes Danny’s stomach twist with anticipation. Ethan leans in to whisper in Danny’s ear, something about meeting up at the park after school; Danny should really be paying more attention. But Isaac is still staring in a sort-of creepy way, and Danny is a little concerned that he finds Isaac’s tongue darting against his lower lip more distracting than Ethan’s lips brushing the shell of his ear.

*

Danny likes that Ethan can take care of his damn self, and he thinks that's what he wants, that's what he _should_ want. A boyfriend who doesn’t freak out when Danny doesn’t text him fifteen times a day. A guy whose eyes don’t show every damn thing he’s feeling, a guy with a little mystery.

Or, he _used_ to think Isaac didn’t have any mystery, up until the night Ethan takes Danny to some abandoned building - "just to check it out - maybe we can find some dark corner," he says with a slow grin - and shit goes so sideways Danny can't process anything until he's out in the alley with Isaac bent over him, his hands strong and sure on Danny's chest, his neck, like he's checking for injuries. Danny’s shoulder is aching from where he slammed into the floor at one point, but he’s pretty sure nothing is broken or bleeding.

"You're okay," Isaac says, over and over, like he's reassuring himself as much as Danny. 

"Isaac, what the fuck," Danny manages, because he's pretty sure he saw his boyfriend and his brother turn into a _monster_ , and also Scott McCall threw a lady through a _window_.

Isaac just grins at him, this manic, brilliant smile, his canine teeth longer than Danny remembers, and says "It's about fucking time you got looped in on this insanity." 

Danny's pretty sure he's missed about a thousand pages in this story, including the ones where Isaac can pick him up and put him in the back of Stilinski's jeep like he doesn't weigh a thing, and the part where Lydia's sitting in the front seat yelling "Let's go, losers, fifteen seconds before the building blows!" and especially the part where they get back to Derek Hale’s apartment and it turns out everyone is a _fucking werewolf_. 

Well, not everyone. But Derek and Scott are, and _Jackson_ , and Isaac fucking Lahey, the kid voted most likely to never make eye contact in the tenth grade. Oh, and Ethan, who is apparently also trying to kill them. At least Lydia can’t laugh at him for his terrible taste in guys this time, since she’s pretty fucking embarrassed that her crush was the other half of the Wonder Twins of Evil.

“He just had such nice... everything,” she sighs as they sit close together on Derek’s couch.

“I know,” Danny sighs back. 

“Everyone stop thinking with your fucking hormones,” Derek growls at them, and Danny thinks Derek is kind of a dick. But he also ripped a door off a car earlier that evening, so Danny’s not going to provoke him.

*

The Monday after what Danny is coming to think of as The Mindfuck of the Century, he’s standing the hallway waiting for Lydia and Allison to come out of the bathroom so they can go to English when Ethan just saunters up to Danny with a smile on his face that seems a lot more predatory in the harsh light of werewolfdom. Danny's heart is going a mile a fucking minute, but all of a sudden Isaac is in front of him, between them, his shoulders square and strong.

“You’d better back the fuck up,” Isaac says, his voice almost a growl. 

Ethan just smiles wider and peers over Isaac’s shoulder. "Danny, call me sometime," he says, smooth and calm, and saunters off. Danny’s exhale is shakier than he’d like to admit. 

“What the fuck is he even doing here?” Danny asks, trying to tamp down the wave of panic he’s feeling. “Did he think I’d just forget the whole ‘tried to kill me’ thing?” (The last time he saw Ethan, his brother was _crawling inside his body to make a giant were-monster_ , and Danny’s really not going to be forgetting that any time soon.)

Isaac’s look is full of concern. “Well, it’s not like we can run to the administration and tell them there are werewolf murderers on the premises,” he says. “Don’t worry, they won’t try anything in public.”

“Right, sure,” Danny nods, his fingers white-knuckled around the strap of his backpack. 

“I think, um,” Isaac says, looking over his shoulder like he’s worried Ethan is still there. “You probably shouldn’t be alone after school, though.”

“That’s... okay,” Danny replies, and his heartrate is spiking again. 

Isaac wraps a hand gently around his wrist. “Hey, I can hang out after school, just until your parents get home?” He says it like a question, like there is any way Danny is turning down a supernatural bodyguard when his ex might be, like, a crazy stalker _and_ a murderous werewolf. 

“Yeah, yes,” Danny says, almost too quickly. “I’ll meet you in the parking lot after eighth period?” 

Isaac’s smile is slow, almost tentative, and Danny’s glad his heartrate is already up or he’d be embarrassed by the thudding in his chest. “Good. I’ll see you then. In the meantime,” he adds, as Lydia finally emerges from the ladies room, Allison at her elbow, “no one go anywhere alone in school today.”

“They’re here?” Allison asks, suddenly alert and all-business. Isaac nods.

“I pick Allison as my personal bodyguard,” Lydia smiles. Isaac and Allison nod at each other, and Danny senses that wasn’t a joke.

There are clearly still things he’s in the dark about, damn.

*

Danny’s house is a nice two-story on the north side of town. They have a pool and a three-car garage and a finished basement with a pool table that no one in the family uses. “It’s just you?” Isaac asks as they pull into the driveway a little after three o’clock. “No one else will be here?”

“Mom and dad both get home around six,” Danny tells him. “My sister’s down in Palo Alto. She’s a senior at Stanford this year.” 

“Oh,” Isaac nods, looking up at the house. He takes a deep breath, like he’s steeling himself before he goes inside. He follows Danny through the foyer and the kitchen and into the den. He seems unsure, pulled in on himself in a way Danny doesn’t see that often anymore.

“Do you need to, like, check the exits?” Danny asks.

Isaac blinks at him. “Are they all reinforced steel?” Danny shakes his head slowly. “Then it won’t matter. If they want to get in, they’ll get in. Which, I mean, they probably won’t? Ethan might be little crazy, but as far as we know he’s acting on orders from Deucalion, so he probably won’t go around attacking random civilians.”

 _Random civilians_ , Danny thinks. “You talk like you’re at war,” he says, and Isaac shrugs, looking down at his feet. 

“We are,” he says plainly, and Danny remembers the screams at the warehouse, and Lydia’s explosion, and the deep gashes in Scott’s side that healed up, but not before staining everything with blood. And Ethan, or something that was partly Ethan, baring its fangs and roaring.

“Yeah,” Danny says, and drops heavily onto the sofa. “You want to... I don’t know. Play Mario Kart?”

Isaac shrugs again. “Don’t know how,” he says, and Danny pats the couch next to him.

“Well that, my friend, I can help you with.”

Nearly three hours later, Danny is laughing as Isaac skids gracelessly over the track, the coffee table littered with a package of pita chips and some sports drinks and Danny’s mom’s homemade hummus. Isaac’s grinning wide. “Oh, I am so gonna beat your ass on this -” he says, then stops cold, eyes unfocusing. 

“What,” Danny says, pausing the game and leaning forward. “Is it them?”

“Your folks are driving up the street,” Isaac says, standing up and grabbing his backpack and heading for the back door, the one that faces away from the driveway. “I’ll just -”

“Hey, I can give you a ride,” Danny says, and Isaac grins at him, his hand already on the doorknob. 

“And drive back alone, making this whole thing completely moot?” he says. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” And with that, he’s out the door and gone before Danny even hears his parents’ car pull up.

*

Ethan is still at school, and he and Aiden seem both wary and menacing, neither of them ever far from the other. There isn’t any trouble, but it’s not a truce; it's more like a pause before a fight, with both sides always watching for the other to make a mistake. It’s terrifying in a way that Danny isn’t used to. Danny manages to stay clear of all the werewolves most of the time, but somehow every time Ethan ends up in the same room - or even the same hallway - Isaac is there, hovering on the edges, watching. It means Danny can breathe, but it’s also kind of freaky.

Isaac is also waiting outside after school every day, slouching against Danny’s car in one of his weird grandpa cardigans, smiling when he sees Danny coming. After the first week, Danny’s pretty sure that he’s barely a blip on Ethan’s radar anymore, what with the war they have going on with Derek and Scott and the fact that midterms are coming up, but he still unlocks the car and doesn’t say anything when Isaac slides into the passenger seat, his long fingers curling over his knees as they both squeeze into the small sedan. Isaac becomes his after-school babysitter, with his own side of the couch and free rein of all the drinks in the kitchen once Danny tells him it’s fine, he can have whatever he wants and no one will be mad. 

They don't really do anything, just hang out and watch TV, or play video games, or quietly sit and do their homework. They talk sometimes, but only about stupid, silly stuff - their classes, or coach and how he’s crazy, or how the writing of some show is just terrible but both of them are too lazy to change the channel. Danny learns that Mario Kart isn’t the only thing Isaac never learned about in whatever hellish childhood he lived through (something else they never bring up). Danny forces him to watch Firefly and the Star Trek reboot. They Netflix Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and the Matrix trilogy and Wet Hot American Summer. At the shack scene, Danny glances over at Isaac - this is usually the spot where straight guys laugh a little too loud. But Isaac is just watching the movie, chewing on his lower lip, and Danny thinks there might be a slight flush along his cheeks. 

“That one was great,” Isaac says as the credits roll, and Danny grins at him. 

“There’s plenty more where that came from,” he says, and he doesn’t mean for it to sound flirtatious, but. Okay, maybe it’s supposed to be _a little_ flirtatious. “21 Jump Street is pretty hilarious.”

“Maybe you can show me tomorrow?” Isaac says softly and Danny’s heart does a little skitter across his chest.

*

Things in Beacon Hills actually make a lot more sense after Stiles and Lydia fill him in on the last year, except for the part where when he looks at Isaac now, he has no idea what he's seeing - broken boy? scary monster? guy who definitely saved his life? - but he really, really likes it. That part is fucking with his head in a major way.

He has to shift every fantasy he's ever had about skinny Isaac Lahey (and okay, he's had them, come on, he's _human_ and _seventeen_ , and Isaac is... Isaac). It turns out that Isaac isn’t the breakable boy Danny imagined pressing against the lockers at school. Isaac is strong, stronger than Danny, stronger than _The Rock_ , about whom Danny has wasted a not inconsiderable amount of time fantasizing. Isaac could probably - no, _definitely_ leave bruises in Danny’s skin, could pick him up and toss him onto Danny’s bed, could hold him down and - . 

Danny really didn't know he could find a guy to crush on who combined his love of twinks with his secret desire to be manhandled, but hey. Thank god for werewolves.

*

Isaac never stays for dinner. Danny thinks maybe he has a curfew, wherever he’s staying, but on the night when Danny’s parents call to tell him to order a pizza because they’re having dinner with friends, Isaac stays, eating half of a sausage pie, which makes Danny have to hide in the bathroom when he licks grease off his fingers. 

“Do you need to call anyone?” he asks, once he’s placed the order. Isaac blinks at him for a moment before his eyes open wide, realization dawning. He pulls out his cellphone.

“Hey, Scott,” Isaac says, worrying the edge of a nail with his teeth. “Yeah, Danny’s parents are going to be late so make sure your mom knows -,” he’s saying, but Danny’s stuck on _Scott_. 

So Isaac is staying at McCall’s - it’s weird, because shouldn’t he be in foster care or something? But Danny thinks about Isaac and how he’s quiet except when he’s comfortable, how he’s gentle except when he’s frighteningly angry. How once a month he’s in danger of becoming a monster unless he can “anchor” himself, whatever that means. A kid like Isaac isn’t the kind of kid who would do well with strangers. He doesn’t know if Mrs. McCall knows about Isaac, about Scott, about _werewolves_ , but if Isaac is comfortable there, then it’s probably the best place for him to be. With the alphas around, Danny doesn’t want Isaac to be alone any more than Isaac will leave _him_ alone, even for one night.

But he’s also noticed how Isaac looks at McCall, like he hangs the fucking moon (pun intended) and he wants to know if he’s right, if Isaac’s in love with Scott, or just lust, or something else entirely. He doesn’t question why he needs to know, just adds it to the long list of things about Isaac that make him itch with curiosity.

“Is that awkward?” Danny asks once he’s hung up. He doesn’t look away from the television. “Living with Scott?”

“Why would it be?” Isaac asks, but there’s tension in his voice.

Danny takes deep, even breaths and tries to keep his heart rate down. “Because I’ve seen the way you look at him,” Danny says, wondering if he’s pushing too far. 

“Yeah, well, you’re the only one who notices,” Isaac says, and when Danny looks at him, Isaac only waits a beat before looking back. “He’s in love with Allison,” Isaac says with a shrug, and he doesn’t look devastated or anything, but Danny can tell he’s had this conversation with himself more than once. “I mean, half of what makes Scott so great is how much he cares about people, so I just. Want him to be happy.”

“That’s... yeah, but it still sucks.” Danny’s had his fair share of crushes on straight guys, and it’s never fun. “If you ever want to talk about it -” he offers, but Isaac shakes his head.

“Nothing to talk about,” he says, “I just have to move on,” he says with one of the sardonic smiles that always make Danny smile back. 

Maybe, Danny thinks, Isaac being gay isn't an issue for him because it’s just never been at the top of the list of things Isaac needs to worry about to, like, survive the week. Danny thinks something in Isaac’s life should be easy, and if he doesn’t want to make a big deal about the fact that he’s just admitted he likes boys, then Danny won’t either.

“Let’s find you a movie boyfriend, then,” is all he says, “They are _way_ less trouble than the real thing. Let me introduce you to Dwayne Johnson, but if you like him, we’ll have to share.” He flips to The Mummy Returns on Netflix and Isaac just laughs.

*

“God, he’s hot,” Danny mutters as Chris Hemsworth struggles to pull Moljnir from the ground, water running down his insanely huge arm. Danny got the whole Avengers movie set on Blu-ray for Christmas, and he’s making Isaac watch them in order, including the special features. Danny figures if he makes it last, Isaac will keep coming over for at least another week.

“Eh, if that’s your type,” Isaac says, but he’s grinning.

“Whatever, he’s everyone’s type. Actually, between him and Loki and Darcy, this movie appeals to literally everyone.”

“That is probably true,” Isaac concedes, head rolling on the couch cushion to look at him. They’ve been sprawled on the couch since they got home and his curls are flattened on one side. Danny reaches out to fix them without thinking, his fingers sliding against Isaac’s scalp, knuckles brushing the shell of his ear. Isaac freezes, his eyes wide, lips parted in a startled “Oh.”

“Sorry,” Danny says, pulling his hand back. “Your hair was just...”

“Oh,” Isaac says again, and he’s still _looking_ at Danny. The moment stretches between them, and Danny can feel his pulse rate tick up. Isaac’s eyes drift down to his neck, like he can hear it.

“I should - are you thirsty?” Danny asks, getting up off the couch before he can do something stupid like _pet Isaac’s hair_. Oh, _wait_. “I think there’s iced tea in the fridge, I’ll grab us some,” he babbles, and he can feel the blush blooming across his cheeks. 

There _is_ iced tea, but it only takes Danny a few moments to grab some glasses and fill them up, and his cheeks are still hot along with... other parts of his anatomy. As a distraction, he grabs some lemons and a knife from his mom’s knife board and starts cutting them up for garnish. Isaac doesn’t need the garnish, but Danny certainly needs a few minutes to get his shit together. He’s picked up a few things about werewolves, and one of them is that they can _sense_ things. Danny’s pretty sure Isaac will be able to sense that Danny’s half-hard in his jeans. He’s been so _fucking good_ about not letting his crush on Isaac show, but now that he thinks about it, maybe he’s just been fooling himself. Maybe Isaac’s known for a while now. _But he keeps coming over,_ Danny thinks, and he wonders if he’s the one who’s been missing something, if maybe Isaac - 

“Fuck, _fuck_ ,” he hisses. Danny’s paying less than zero attention to cutting up the lemon, so it shouldn’t be a shock that he’s sliced into his finger instead, enough lemon juice getting in the cut that Danny’s tearing up from how much it _stings_.

Isaac appears at his elbow as he’s flipping the tap on, sticking his hand under cold water. “How did you?” he starts, but shuts up when Isaac’s eyebrows go up in his patented think-before-you-ask-a-dumb-question look. “Right, blood,” Danny says, looking down at where the water is running pink. It’s not a deep cut, and another few seconds it’ll run clear, but the sting from the lemon juice is still there, and Danny hisses when he moves his hand.

"Here, let me," Isaac says, and puts his hand on Danny's while he's running it under the tap. Suddenly the cut doesn’t hurt anymore.

"Whoa. Is that some... werewolf magic thing?" Danny asks, a little breathless, staring at where Isaac is putting pressure on the cut, and it only tickles a little. 

Isaac shrugs. "I guess? Not everyone can do it, though." 

"It's awesome," Danny tells him, because it probably comes in really handy, knowing what he knows about werewolves in this town. When he looks up, Isaac is really, really close, and his eyes are glowing not-quite-yellow, but not really human either. Danny can hear his own heartbeat and doesn't know if it's because they're connected by whatever Isaac is doing to his hand or if it's just beating that hard. He shouldn't do it, he knows even as he's leaning in to brush his lips over Isaac's, he knows this is going to complicate his life _so much_ , but Isaac makes this small, almost broken noise as their mouths touch, and Danny hasn't wanted anyone this much since... forever, probably.

Danny leans into the kiss, reaching up to tangle his fingers in Isaac’s sweater, and Isaac steps impossibly closer, his whole body a furnace against Danny’s. Isaac kisses with zero finesse, but the sounds he makes are delicious, surprised little gasps and a whimper when Danny’s tongue finds his. It’s not more than a few seconds before Isaac’s pulling away with a wild, frightened look in his eyes. “Isaac,” Danny says, leaning forward to chase his red, wet mouth. 

“Your parents are home,” Isaac whispers, and Danny hears a car door slam outside. 

“Stay, it’s okay,” Danny tries to tell him, but by the time Danny’s mom opens the front door, Isaac has slipped out the back.

Danny can barely look his mom in the eye when she comes in the door. “What on earth did you do?” she asks, walking briskly to the sink and yanking his hand out from under the tap. Danny had honestly forgotten about the cut. 

“It’s fine, mom,” he mumbles, but he’s grateful she’s distracted looking for band-aids. It gives him a few seconds to try to breath, and to wonder what the fuck just happened. He’s quiet through dinner, enough that his dad asks if he’s feeling okay.

“Just tired,” he lies, and flees to his room as soon as he’s cleared the table. He almost has a heart attack when he walks into his room to find Isaac sitting on his bed. “How -” he starts, and Isaac nods to the window. It’s a sheer drop to the ground from the second floor, and Danny takes another minute to be both impressed and terrified of werewolves. Isaac stands up and stuffs his hands in his pockets, eyes cast to the floor.

“I’m sorry about before. I’m not really good with... parents,” Isaac says. Danny stares at him long enough that Isaac shifts uncomfortably. “Look, I came back because I didn’t want you to think I left because, you know.” His eyes are wide and serious, and a little wary.

“Because I kissed you,” Danny says, feeling a little defensive, but he’s man enough to recognize that Isaac’s running was completely in character, even if the timing sucked. There’s a clang from downstairs, pots slapping into each other as his dad puts away the dishes, and Isaac flinches, his eyes darting to the door. “They aren’t going to come up here,” Danny says gently, and closes the door firmly behind him. Isaac has that deer in the headlights look he used to have all the time, but it’s been a while since Danny’s seen it. His chest tightens at the thought that Isaac’s felt comfortable around him, that maybe he even felt _safe_. Maybe as safe as Danny’s felt having him around. He doesn’t know much about what’s going on with the pack right now - with the Alphas and Scott and Derek and whatever crazy Druid ritual crap Stiles was babbling about last week - but he knows that _safe_ is not the norm for Isaac. And remembering the hollow look in his eyes from before he turned, before his dad died, maybe he hasn’t felt safe in long time. And now maybe Danny’s fucked all that up with a single stupid kiss.

“Hey,” Danny says. “I’m sorry -”

“No,” Isaac cuts him off, his eyes back on Danny. He looks a little wild. “I don’t want you to be sorry.”

“No?” Danny says, one corner of his mouth twitching up. 

Isaac shakes his head. “That’s why I came back, because -” But Isaac stops talking as Danny takes a few slow steps toward him. 

“Because -,” Danny prompts. When he’s close enough he reaches out and run his hand down Isaac’s arm, from his elbow to his hand. Isaac watches, twisting his palm up so their fingers hook together. 

“Danny,” he says, barely a breath, and Danny’s kissing him again, his other hand tangling in Isaac’s curls. He feels this sense of giddiness when Isaac pulls him close and wraps one arm around his waist. It’s like he’s kissing all the Isaac’s all at once - the trembling kid, the snarky friend, the brave hero, the guy who gives The Rock a run for his money - and all of them are kissing him back, hot and wet and perfect. By the time Isaac pulls back, Danny’s panting. “Your parents are downstairs,” Isaac murmurs, pressing their foreheads together.

“Told you, they aren’t gonna come in here,” he replies, chasing Isaac’s mouth. Isaac kisses him back for a moment before he pulls away again, takes a step back. 

“I better go,” he says. “But tomorrow? Maybe I could still come over?”

Danny releases the death grip he had on Isaac’s sweater and the imprints of his fingers are still visible in the fabric. “You’d better fucking come over,” Danny warns him, and Isaac’s grin is manic. He grabs his bag and folds his long limbs through the window. “You know, you could probably sneak out through the first floor,” Danny says wryly.

“Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?” Isaac says, and lets go of the windowsill.

By the time Danny gets to the window, Isaac is halfway across the lawn.

*

 _Slow, slow, we should take it slow,_ Danny’s brain is trying to say to him, but the rest of Danny is pressed against Isaac as they lay on the couch, shoulder to thigh, and Danny has a hard time remembering why slow is a good idea. Isaac’s mouth is hot on his neck, and Danny’s fingers are curled in his fucking perfect hair. “Love this,” he says, tugging a little on the curls. Isaac moans against his throat, and Danny gasps. He’s hard - hell, he’s been hard since he came out of school to see Isaac leaning on his car with a small, shy smile - and when his hips roll into Isaac’s they both shiver.

“We should - should we slow down?” Danny asks, instead of telling, because really, _why_ was that a good idea?

Isaac brushes his nose against Danny’s cheek, tilting his head up to kiss him again. Part of Danny wants to just take that as a no and run with it, but when he slides his hand under Isaac’s shirt and presses his palm to the flat plane of his stomach, Isaac’s trembling hard enough for Danny to feel it.

“Hey,” he says, pushing his hand up Isaac’s side instead of down, down to where it would cause a hell of a lot more trouble. “Hey, talk to me.” When Isaac pulls back to look at him, his eyes are the same almost-gold they were in the kitchen yesterday, holding Danny’s hand. 

“Sorry, I want to, I do,” he says, so earnest and beautiful and _worried_. Danny leans up to kiss him again, softer this time. 

“How about this,” he says, smiling against Isaac’s mouth. “Hands above the waist, like a middle school dance.” He pushes his lower body back against the cushions and away from Isaac’s, and spans his hands around Isaac’s waist. Isaac’s blush reaches halfway down his neck. Danny kisses the spot where the pink turns to pale skin. “Nothing you’re not ready for, okay?”

“Okay,” Isaac says, but he stops Danny before he can reel him back in. “Shirts off, though?” he says, looking up at Danny through his lashes. 

“Fuck yes, shirts off,” Danny replies and they both strip off their shirts in a flurry of material, laughing when they come back together.

*

Danny’s kissed his fair share of people and hooked up with plenty of others (and had sex, but only with Trevor, which Danny is still a little bitter about), but Isaac is probably the most inexperienced person Danny has made out with more than once. Sometimes he feels like a creeper, the way he gets off on Isaac blushing, on the way he can make Isaac gasp by sucking on the rise of his pectoral muscle, or dancing his fingers across the waist of Isaac’s jeans. 

But sometimes Isaac says shit like "fuck, I love the way you smell, want to smell like you all the time," when they're pressed against each other in the back seat of Danny's Toyota on the far end of the parking lot after school, not able to make it even the drive home before they’re all over each other, and it's so _earnest_ and _hot_ that it hits Danny like a punch to the gut. 

*

It’s only been a few weeks, but Danny’s memorized every inch of Isaac’s skin from his waist to the tips of his ears. Isaac’s skin is perfect, pale and dotted with a few dark freckles. He doesn’t have any scars, not that Danny can find and trace with his fingers, but sometimes Danny’s hand will drift over a spot that makes Isaac tense up. He wonders if there used to be a scar there that Isaac’s new powers have erased from his body, but not his mind.

They’re on Danny’s bed this time, shirts already abandoned on the floor, and their kisses are lazy. Coach had them run a 5k today, just because Greenburg pissed him off, and Danny’s whole body is just a little sore. “I could help?” Isaac says, his fingers spread wide over Danny’s chest. Danny feels the warm tingle before he even nods, and the tension bleeds out of him as Isaac’s eyes glow in the half-light of the room.

“How are you even real?” he asks with a happy sigh, and Isaac smiles at him, kisses his chin, then his neck, and down his chest to his sternum. Danny doesn’t push, but his hand drifts to Isaac’s head as his mouth maps Danny’s chest. Isaac flicks his tongue against Danny’s nipple and it surprises him enough that his hips buck up, just a fraction. Isaac looks up at him with a small smile before running his tongue around the peak of flesh, and oh, fuck, Danny’s never been with anyone who can look that innocent and that _dirty_ all at once. It’s intoxicating. “Isaac,” he breaths, and Isaac slides up to kiss him properly.

“I was thinking we could, you know,” Isaac says, still blushing, _always_ blushing, but he’s also reaching down to press his thumb to the button on Danny’s jeans. 

“Yeah?” Danny asks, and Isaac tugs them open with one hand.

“Yeah,” he replies, grinning, and Danny’s pushing Isaac onto his back, peeling Isaac’s jeans off and kicking his own onto the floor. Isaac’s laughing by the time Danny settles back over him, both of them in nothing but cotton boxer-briefs. “Smooth,” Isaac says, but his eyes are fond.

“Oh, I can definitely be smooth,” Danny assures him, and shifts his thigh until it’s nudged just against Isaac’s groin. 

“Fuck,” Isaac says, his head thrown back against Danny’s pillow, and Danny rocks them together, the friction amazing through layers of soft cotton. They kiss, and it’s sloppy, Isaac getting distracted every time Danny shifts against him. 

Danny’s hard, but he’s not on the edge yet; Isaac is hot against his thigh, and he can feel the dampness where he’s leaking through his underwear, hard enough that Danny can feel his dick jump when he scrapes his teeth lightly against Isaac’s lower lip. He slips a little to the side so he’s half draped over Isaac with his weight on one elbow. “Can I?” he asks, skimming his fingers along the edge of elastic, inches from where Isaac’s dick is straining. 

“Yeah, if you - yes,” Isaac manages, his eyes darting from Danny’s face to his hand and back again. When Danny slips his hand under the waistband and slides his fingers gently over Isaac’s dick, Isaac buries his face in Danny’s shoulder with a gasp. Danny kisses his temple and gives an experimental tug; Isaac’s hand closes around Danny’s wrist like a vise and he pushes up into the circle of Danny’s fist.

“I’ve got you,” Danny says with a slow smile, and he jerks Isaac off with a firm, slow stroke, loving the weight of him in his hand, the sheen of sweat forming on his temple. Werewolves don’t sweat like normal people do, or at least not doing things like 5k runs. But here, on Danny’s bed, Isaac is panting like he’s just run a marathon, his lips parted, sliding against Danny’s skin.

“Oh, God,” Isaac keens, his eyes closed tightly. “I want - _Danny_ ,” he says and Danny leans in to nose against his ear.

“You’ve got me too,” he says and pushes his thumb at the ridge on the underside of Isaac’s dick until he’s bucking up and coming with a shout. Danny just holds on to him for a long moment, finally sliding his hand out of Isaac’s underwear, slick with come and sweat. “Hold on,” he says, reaching for his discarded shirt on the floor, but Isaac takes his wrist and pulls Danny’s hand up, inhaling deeply before sucking Danny’s index finger into his mouth. “Jesus,” he exhales as Isaac licks his finger clean. Isaac’s eyes are open now, watching him, as he sucks two of Danny’s fingers in his mouth. Danny thinks this is probably some werewolf thing about scenting or marking or god only knows what. It should be weird, and it _is_ , but it’s also hot as fuck, the feeling of Isaac’s tongue between his fingers, the suction that goes right to his dick, the wet ‘pop’ they make when Isaac pulls them free.

He’s so hard from it that his hips stutter against Isaac’s thigh. Isaac’s smile is bright and wide and wonderful, but Danny can’t smile back, he can barely hear past the rush of blood in his ears. “Your turn,” Isaac says, and Danny’s on his back in one fluid movement, Isaac bracketing him from above on his hands and knees. He leans down to kiss Danny’s chest, then lower, and lower, until his lips graze the jut of Danny’s hipbone. 

“Isaac,” he breathes, “you don’t have to -,” but Isaac is _nuzzling_ him now, his nose pressed to the crease of Danny’s thigh, and Danny has to clutch at the sheets to keep his body still.

“Want to see if you taste as good as you smell,” Isaac says, and the grin he levels at Danny is enough for Danny to wonder if this whole thing has been an act; if this whole innocent, eager, inexperienced boy hasn’t been playing him for weeks. “If that’s - if you want,” Isaac adds, his confidence faltering, and all Danny can do is laugh breathlessly. 

“Yeah,” Danny says, sliding one hand into Isaac’s unruly hair. “I definitely want.”

Isaac peels Danny’s underwear down to his thighs before his mouth closes around the head of Danny’s cock almost reverently, suckling a little until Danny pushes on the back of his neck, asking for more. It’s not perfect - Isaac chokes a few times, pulling off to cough, his teeth bumping against Danny’s dick more than once - but Danny is fucking grateful for it because Isaac is so into it, so focused and flushed and gorgeous, that Danny’s pretty sure he would have lasted about thirty seconds if Isaac had ever done this before. As it stands, he lasts about two minutes, until Isaac pulls off his dick to suck on Danny’s balls, his hand still jerking Danny off in a fist that is nearly too-tight. Danny’s hips buck up and Isaac uses his other arm to _slam_ Danny back into the mattress, and it’s game fucking over. Danny comes all over Isaac’s fist, his cheek, a few drops landing in his hair. 

“Oh god, oh shit,” Danny intones as Isaac licks the come off Danny’s oversensitive dick, then his own fingers. Isaac shifts up the bed to lean over him and Danny swipes a drop of come off his chin and smiles when Isaac catches his eye and licks it off his thumb. “That is dirty as _fuck_ ,” Danny says, awed, and Isaac laughs.

“You’re welcome?” he says, but he’s grinning, and Danny loves it, loves the way Isaac’s hair is a wild mess now, the way his lips shine, the way his can feel that he’ll have a few bruises on his hips in the morning. He tugs Isaac down into a kiss and Isaac melts into him, long limbs pulling at Danny until they’re wrapped around each other, heads sharing the same pillow. They lay there for a while, just breathing, and Danny thinks he might be in serious trouble, when the cuddling is almost as good as the sex.

Isaac tenses suddenly and Danny glances at the clock on his dresser. It’s nearly six. “You could stay for dinner,” he says again, knowing it’s fruitless. 

Isaac kisses his jaw, his neck, before disentangling from him and rooting around on the floor for his jeans. “I know,” he says. “I just.” He pauses, looks down at Danny, still sprawled in the sheets. “Soon, okay? Once the alphas are gone, maybe things can be... normal, for a while.”

“How long will that be?” Danny asks. “There doesn’t seem to be a plan -”

“Derek’s working on it,” Isaac snaps at him. His eyes go big. “I’m sorry, Danny, I just mean -”

Danny sits up and kisses his shoulder. “No, hey, it’s cool. I’d rather he take his time, do it right.” He hooks his chin over Isaac’s shoulder and pulls him close with one arm. “I’m kind of invested in you not dying, so.” Isaac’s answering smile is small but it’s real enough that Danny lets him go. “When this is over though, I’m serious. Dinner, here - I might even make my dad bust out the grill.”

“That sounds pretty serious,” Isaac says, tugging his shirt over his head.

Danny’s heart thumps hard in his chest. “Yeah,” he replies, and Isaac kisses him, hard and fast, before he jumps out the window.

*

It’s another week before Danny learns how much of a plan there really _isn’t_.

“Pack meeting,” Cora Hale says, walking up to Isaac and Danny in the parking lot. “Let’s go.”

“I have to stick with Danny,” Isaac says, glancing between them. 

Cora rolls her eyes. “Whatever,” she replies, walking away and climbing into Stiles’s jeep. “Just be at our place in fifteen.”

Isaac looks at him and Danny just shrugs. “Come on,” he says. “Sounds important.” They drive over to the old warehouse district and Danny spends about five seconds worrying about parking his car on the street on this side of town before he remembers he’d heading into a werewolf’s lair. Den. Whatever. “Maybe I should stay in the car,” he says to Isaac, throwing the car in park. “I mean -”

Isaac leans over the console and kisses him. “It’ll be fine,” he says, pulling away just enough that Danny can breathe. “You’re with me.”

They’ve been extra careful about touching in school, or even talking much. Isaac doesn’t want to rattle Ethan’s cage, and Danny certainly appreciates not becoming more of a target. But when Danny walks into the room, Isaac a careful three steps ahead of him, Derek wrinkles his nose, then rolls his eyes.

“Seriously?” he says to Isaac, “can any of you _not_ think entirely with your hormones?” Isaac blushes scarlet. Danny figures their cover is blown.

Lydia and Allison hide their giggles behind their hands. Scott just grins at them. Stiles glances between Danny and Isaac, his mouth open in surprise. “That’s... seriously?”

“Yeah, Stiles, seriously,” Danny says. He takes a step closer to Isaac, reaches out to curl his hand around Isaac’s hip. “Is that a problem?”

“No, that’s -” Stiles flails. “I mean, go Team Danny. Or Team Isaac? Whatever, I’m just... surprised.”

“Me too,” Isaac says, smiling at Danny over his shoulder. Danny smiles back. Allison lets out an “awww” that is loud enough for even non-werewolves to hear and Derek just sighs.

“Whatever, we have bigger problems,” he says.

The bigger problem seems to be that the Alphas’ ultimatum is up - the next full moon is in two days - and Derek has no plan about how to deal with them other than “we fight.”

“I’m sorry,” Danny says, “but you’re telling us that you know the Alphas are coming, here, in two days, and the plan is to just show up and fight?”

“Not you,” Derek growls. “Me and Isaac. Cora. Scott,” he says, and Danny can feel Scott stiffen next to him. “Any humans mixed up in this won’t make it out alive.”

“Yeah, because the werewolves are making it out just fine,” Lydia sing-songs, and Derek glares at her. Allison pipes in to remind them all that they wouldn’t have survived the _last_ fight without her. Derek yells at her to mind her own business, and Scott growls deep in his chest.

Danny’s whole body is thrumming. He remembers Ethan and Aiden, the monster they became. He knows that the woman, Kali, is dangerous enough that she nearly took Derek down, just by herself. And if Stiles is to be believed, they’re not even the scariest ones. He thinks about Isaac, and about the look on Isaac’s face when he’d told Danny about what had really happened to Boyd, curled up under a blanket on the couch. Isaac had been terrified, and right now all Danny can think of is Isaac, bleeding to death on the floor of this apartment, maybe at Derek’s own hands.

“Isaac, this is a terrible plan,” he says quietly, way more calmly than he feels.

“ _Thank_ you,” Stiles says, gesturing at Danny. “I’ve been saying that, but -”

“It’s my pack, it’s my plan,” Derek grits out. “And since it’s been a _month_ and none of you have come up with a better one -”

“Hey, trying to _stop a druid serial killer_ , here,” Stiles bites back. Danny leans on the table and looks at Isaac. He looks lost, afraid, and Danny isn’t going to let him do this.

“Let’s get out of here,” he says, slipping his hand into Isaac’s and giving a tug. They aren’t going to stay here.

“Danny,” Isaac says, his face twisted in worry.

“This is crazy, and if you do this, you’ll probably all die,” Danny says to Isaac, but the angry voices around the table sputter out. Danny doesn’t look at any of the rest of them - they’re all here voluntarily, they all know this risk, they can all fight and die together, and Danny wishes them well. But Isaac’s been through enough. And Danny is not going to fucking lose him. “Come on,” he says, “you know this is a bad idea.”

Isaac looks at Derek, his arms crossed over his chest. “He’s part of my pack,” Derek says, and his eye flash red and menacing. “He stays.”

Everyone at the table is watching now, their eyes darting from Isaac to Derek and back to Danny. Isaac runs his hand through his hair roughly. “Danny, I _can’t_ ,” he says, and Danny runs cold. 

“Yes, you can,” he says, glaring at Derek. “He doesn’t fucking own you, he doesn’t have the right -”

Isaac barks out a laugh, harsh and humorless. “He’s my _alpha_ , Danny. He totally has the right.”

“That’s fucked up,” Danny tells him.

“That’s werewolves,” Stiles says, his mouth set in a grim line. But he’s not leaving either. None of them are. They’re all crazy, this plan isn’t even a _plan_ , and Isaac...

“I’m sorry,” Isaac says, his eyes so blue and so sad that Danny wants to punch him in his fucking _face_.

“Whatever,” Danny says, raising his hands in surrender. He walks out of the apartment without looking back, climbs into his car and just drives. He knew kissing Isaac Lahey was a mistake, but he never dreamed it would lead to this hollow, empty feeling in his chest. _Isaac’s going to die in two days_ , he thinks, and all he can do is keep driving, circling the city streets of Beacon Hills until the sun goes down, trying to think up a way out of this, for Isaac, for Derek, for all of them.

When he finally goes home, he brushes his parents off and heads right to his room.

Isaac’s not there.

He picks up his phone and turns it over and over in his hands before typing out a text message and hitting send.

*

It’s fully dark when Danny jolts awake, his heart pounding. Isaac’s hand is on his shoulder, and Danny can see unshed tears shining in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he says again in a faint whisper. Danny just shifts over on the bed and peels back the covers. 

“Get in,” he says, and Isaac blinks at him for a minute before toeing off his shoes and climbing under the covers. Danny reaches out and pulls Isaac close, Isaac’s face tucked in the crook of Danny’s shoulder. 

“I have to,” Isaac whispers, his fingers clinging tight to Danny’s arm. “You don’t understand. I mean, _I_ don’t even understand sometimes. But he’s my alpha, and they’re my _friends_ and I can’t just let them -”

“I know,” Danny tells him, because he had some realizations on his drive. He’s seen the things these people do for each other, he’s heard about the crazy chances they take, and maybe some of it’s just insane, but some of it’s deeper. They fight for love, or for family, or because it’s the right thing to do. Danny doesn’t understand the bond Isaac has with Derek, but he knows it’s there; he understands that the pack is the only family Isaac has now. 

But Isaac doesn’t just have Derek. He has Danny. And Danny’s going to fight for _Isaac_. That’s Danny’s stake in this whole, crazy thing. He hugs Isaac tight, presses a kiss behind his ear. Isaac sobs against him and Danny runs his hand in soothing circles over his back. He can feel the wet heat of Isaac’s tears against his throat and swallows back a few of his own. “It’s okay,” he says quietly. “We’re okay.”

*

Isaac is gone when Danny wakes up. It’s Saturday, and Danny goes for a run around the neighborhood before breakfast. His mom makes him pancakes, a Saturday morning tradition, and Danny forces himself to slow down and enjoy them, to tell his parents about school, ask them about work. He hasn’t told them about Isaac yet, and he aches to; he wants them to know that he’s in love, that it’s real this time, that he’s found someone who he wants to take care of, and who wants to take care of him. But he swallows the words down with a glass of orange juice. 

“I’m going to spend the night at Lydia’s,” he tells his mom as they’re cleaning up. “We’re working on a project together.”

His mom raises an eyebrow. “Your ‘project’ wouldn’t happen to be the new Project Runway?” she says with a smile. “I thought you were going to watch that with me?”

“Next week,” he tells her, “I promise.” Danny’s gut twists, but he forces a smile. “Love you,” he says, kissing her cheek and grabbing his school bag. 

“Love you too,” she calls after him, and Danny takes a deep breath and gets in the car.

*

Stiles and Isaac are at Derek’s place when Danny gets there, and his creepy uncle Peter is lounging on the couch.

“Hey,” Isaac says, “what are you -”

But Danny just walks right past him to stand in front of Derek. "I texted Ethan to meet me on the lacrosse field tonight, and told him I had information about you and Scott; I told him I'd trade it for my safety," he says. 

Derek’s face morphs into something from a horror novel, his fingers growing claws long enough to gut Danny where he stands. Behind him, he can hear Stiles say “Are you _insane_?” Looking at Derek, Danny’s honestly not sure anymore.

"We’re going to grab him. If we have Ethan, Aiden’s not much of a threat anymore. We might even be able to get one of them to turn, give us information on what Deucalion’s big plan is.”

“Danny -” Isaac says, but Stiles interrupts him. 

“That still leaves Kali and Deucalion.” 

Derek’s face is slipping back into its human form. “Yeah, but it ups our odds. Besides, Kali’s a wild card. She might not be as quick to kill us, if we have one of theirs. Not bad,” he says to Danny.

“Not great,” Peter pipes up. They both turn to glare at him. “I mean, it’s better than ‘we fight’, but it’s not Ocean's Eleven,” he shrugs.

“You needed leverage, Hale,” Danny says, turning back to Derek. “Well, now you’re going to get some. Don't fuck it up."

Isaac appears at Danny’s elbow. “No,” he says, his voice pitched low and angry. “Danny, you can’t -”

“C’mere,” Danny says, and takes Isaac’s hand, leading him around to the back of the loft, tucked behind the spiral staircase. “It’s already done. If this showdown has to happen, I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure you walk away from it.”

“I don’t want you caught in the middle of this.”

“I was caught in the middle of this when my _last_ boyfriend turned out to be a crazy werewolf,” Danny shrugs. “At least this time I’m on the right side.”

Isaac presses his forehead to Danny’s and sighs. “You do realize that the only reason I started coming over to your house in the first place was to keep you _away_ from Ethan, right?”

Danny huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, the irony of that is not lost on me.”

“I don’t like this plan,” Isaac whispers, and Danny can see how scared he is.

“Me either,” Danny admits.

“I’m coming with you,” he says, his eyes flashing yellow when Danny opens his mouth to protest.

“Fine, but don’t do anything stupid,” Derek yells from the common area, and Isaac flushes, but he doesn’t stop Danny from leaning in to kiss him gently. 

“Seriously, don’t do anything stupid,” Danny murmurs against his lips and Isaac arches an eyebrow.

“Pot, kettle,” he says, and Danny kisses him again, ignoring Stiles' pointed coughing.

*

The nearly-full moon is hidden by clouds and the lacrosse field is unnaturally dark. Danny waits, his hands balled into fists, his eyes darting to the tree line mostly so they won’t look back at the bleachers, or the equipment shed, where the others are hiding. “Hey,” he hears, and Ethan is suddenly only a few steps behind him, walking up from the parking lot. 

“Hey,” Danny manages. “Didn’t hear your bike.”

Ethan smiles, and Danny remembers when that smile used to make him weak in the knees. Now all it does is make him shiver. “Thought I’d run. This time of the month, I like stretching my muscles a little.” He rolls his shoulders and Danny almost laughs. Ethan’s _flirting_. “You seem nervous.”

“You came alone?” Danny asks, just to make sure, but Ethan’s taking a few slow steps toward him, and Danny’s pretty sure Aiden wouldn’t agree to come along to watch his brother hit on Danny. In fact, he’d been counting on it.

“Didn’t want us to be interrupted,” Ethan says, trailing his fingers up Danny’s arm. 

“Good, me either,” Danny says, before opening his palm and blowing a cloud of wolfsbane right into Ethan’s eyes. Ethan howls in pain, twisting away from him, and Allison’s arrow catches him in the shoulder and brings him down. Danny tries to back away, but Ethan’s clawed fingers grab his ankle and yank until Danny loses his balance and hits the ground with a thud. 

“I’m going to kill you,” Ethan snarls, his fangs bared. All Danny sees is a blur before Isaac is on him, fists pounding into his face.

“Isaac,” Scott yells, and Derek appears to pull Isaac off Ethan before he, shit. Before he kills him. Isaac’s fully wolfed out, and there’s blood on his shirt from where he’s split open Ethan’s lip. Scott darts in and stabs Ethan in the neck with whatever wolfbane knockout juice Stiles and Lydia had cooked up that afternoon, and Ethan passes out cold. 

“Isaac,” Danny says, and when Isaac looks at him, he thinks he should be afraid, but all he can see is the terror in Isaac’s eyes under all the fury. “I’m fine, we did it,” Danny tells him, reaching out his hand.

When Isaac reaches back, his hand is human again.

*

They have Ethan in one of the equipment cages, but that’s mostly for show. Around the outside of the cage, Lydia and Stiles are finishing the incantation on a circle of ash. Even if Ethan wakes up, he’s stuck in there. 

“Give me his phone,” Derek says, and when Stiles hands it over, he slides it on and scrolls through Ethan’s contacts. He hits the ‘call’ button, and Danny shivers at Derek’s cold smile when someone answers. “Nope, not Ethan,” he says, and Danny can hear the howl on the other end of the line. “If you want your brother alive, meet me at the construction site at Connors and Fifth in 30 minutes. Come alone or he’s dead.” He hangs up, and nods to the assembled group.

“One down, one to go,” Scott says, determined. 

“Everybody take your positions at the site,” Derek barks out. They all move toward their cars, except Danny and Isaac. “You two know what to do,” he says, and Isaac nods. They’re on Ethan-watch, because (as Peter so delicately put it back at the loft), if Ethan manages to escape “Isaac has a vested interest in keeping him down.” Danny hates that Derek agreed, but if it means that Isaac can sit out the second Alpha takedown of the night and stay with Danny on babysitting duty, well. He’s not going to argue.

The locker room rings with silence once they’re all gone, and Danny can finally start to feel his hands shake as he comes down from the rush of adrenaline. “Fuck,” he grits out, scrubbing his hands over his face. 

“It worked,” Isaac says flatly, staring at Ethan’s unconscious body. 

“I know,” Danny replies. Isaac’s mouth is pressed into a hard line. “Are you okay?” he starts to ask, but Isaac is yanking him by the arm around the corner from the cage, pushing him against the wall hard enough to be jarring. “Isaac!” he hisses. Isaac is glaring at him.

“He almost killed you.”

“But he didn’t,” Danny says, blinking up at him.

“But he _could have_ ,” Isaac almost yells, and when Danny puts his hands on Isaac’s shoulders he can feel Isaac shaking.

“But he didn’t,” Danny tells him again, gently, and wraps his arms around Isaac’s neck, pulling him into a tight hug. Isaac’s hands clutch at Danny’s sides as he takes a few deep, shuddering breaths. “Isaac -” Danny starts, but Isaac lifts his head to kiss him, hard enough that Danny’s head is pressed back into the brick wall. It’s frantic, and Danny just lets Isaac have this, lets him push and take and _claim_. Danny’s feeling pretty fucking great about being alive himself, and when their hips slide together, Danny moans into Isaac’s mouth. It’s good, but not perfect - Isaac is just a fraction too tall for Danny to line up their dicks, to feel them pressed together like he wants. Danny arches his back, tries to get them lined up better, and Isaac slides his hands from Danny’s waist around to his ass, then down to the tops of his thighs.

“Hold on,” Isaac mutters against his mouth, and Danny hooks his legs around Isaac’s back as Isaac lifts him off the ground. 

“Oh shit,” Danny says, but he’s laughing a little too. Isaac catches his eyes and grins before leaning back in to kiss him again. He presses Danny back against the wall and pushes against him, shifting until Danny can feel them sliding together, the hard ridge of Isaac’s dick pushing against his balls through layers of fabric. Isaac’s mouth slides to Danny’s neck, and he moans as Danny rolls his hips, over and over, the friction building until Danny can’t see straight. 

“Danny,” Isaac practically keens, and Danny’s clutching at his shoulder, one hand tugging on his hair. “Fuck, I’m gonna come,” he gasps, but Danny beats him to it, his mouth pressed to Isaac’s temple as he rides it out, his orgasm coming in waves as Isaac shudders against him.

Isaac doesn’t put him down as they pant through the aftershocks, just leans them both against the wall, Danny’s legs still locked around his waist. “Oh my god,” Danny says when he finally gets his voice back. “That was so fucking intense.”

“Yeah,” Isaac looks up at him with a small smile. “Should I put you down?” he asks, and Danny kisses his nose, the arch of his cheekbone.

“I’m probably heavy,” he answers, because that is less embarrassing than ‘no, never, this is exactly what I want, forever.’ Isaac just smiles wider. 

“Not really,” he says, and Danny tugs him in for another long kiss, then another one. Eventually he pulls back. “It’s nearly time. We should get ready.”

Danny’s whole body aches when he unfolds himself from around Isaac and eases his feet to the ground, but only until Isaac’s hand presses between his shoulderblades, easing the pain away. They’re both a mess, hair everywhere, mouths bitten raw. “At least we did this in a place where I keep a spare change of clothes,” Danny notes with a chuckle, shucking his sticky jeans and grabbing his sweatpants from his locker. 

Isaac ducks his head around the corner and looks at the cage. Ethan is still there, mouth slack in sleep. “Damn,” he says. Danny raises his eyebrows in question. “I really wanted him to wake up for that,” Isaac grins, eyes gleaming. 

“Staking your claim?” Danny asks wryly.

Isaac laughs. “Well that, and I really wanted to hit him in the face some more.”

*

Isaac and Danny wait for the call from Derek that they’re in the clear, and they wait, and they wait. Isaac gets more and more agitated as it creeps toward midnight.

“It shouldn’t have taken this long,” he says, worrying his lower lip between his teeth. “What if he didn’t come alone? What if -”

“Stop,” Danny says, taking a deep breath. It’s definitely been way too long, but there’s no telling what’s happening with the rest of the pack right now, and it’s not like they can just leave Ethan’s body here unguarded. “We don’t know anything yet. Try Scott’s cell again.” Isaac does, but it goes right to voicemail.

“Danny - “ he says, eyes wide and wet. “What if they’re all -”

“Dude, do you have _no_ faith in us?” Scott’s voice cuts across the tension in the room, and Isaac and Danny both jump. Isaac’s face breaks into a radiant smile as he grabs Scott into a bear hug. The rest of the pack is filing in behind him, with Aiden in a set of shackles covered in some sort of rune markings.

“Ethan,” Aiden calls when he sees his brother laying in the cage, his voice cracking. Derek nods to Lydia and Allison. 

“Shoot him with a second dose, then break the barrier and put these on him.” He hands them another set of the rune shackles. He turns to Aiden. “You take him, you leave, you don’t. Come. Back.”

Aiden’s jaw tightens, but he nods, his eyes fixed on his brother. When the seal is broken and Ethan’s tied up, Stiles does an incantation to remove Aiden’s chains. Aiden picks up his brother and walks out of the room without so much as a glance back at them.

“What the hell?” Danny says. “Aren’t they just going to go running to Deucalion?”

Stiles grins and rocks back on his heels. “Nope! That problem has been taken care of. Turns out Deucalion’s demon-alpha schtick only works _on_ the full moon, which is why he’s been setting up all these stupid monthly check-ins. When Aiden told us that, Derek thought it maybe we should bring the fight to him tonight, instead of waiting for tomorrow. It’s amazing how much the element of surprise can really help you kill a guy.”

Isaac’s head whips up, eyes wide. “He’s dead? How? Did you - I mean, does that mean you’re -” he says to Scott, and Scott shakes his head. 

“Nope, I did,” says a voice Danny doesn’t recognize. He looks to see an older guy - blue eyes, tight t-shirt, the kind of arms that might make Danny swoon if he wasn’t already taken - step out of the shadows. “Deucalion and I had a score to settle. He started it, I finished it. Nobody messes with my family.”

Allison leans in to hug him tight around the waist. And oh, man, had Danny just been perving on Allison’s _dad_? 

“Tonight is officially the weirdest night of my life,” Danny tells the room. They all laugh except for the Hales, but even Cora cracks a small smile.

“Kali’s still out there,” Derek tells them, “though I doubt she’ll show back up again until she’s had a chance to regroup. And there’s still a druid out there killing people. Don’t let your guard down yet.”

“Oh my god, stop being such a fucking downer,” Stiles rolls his eyes. “I, for one, am going to spend this night celebrating with movies and too much sugar - Dad’s working the night shift, so my house?” 

Which is how Danny finds himself with a car filled with werewolves and teenagers, heading to Stiles Stilinski’s house on a Saturday night. “Hey,” Cora says from the backseat, her expression bored but her eyes locked on Danny’s in the rearview mirror. “Weren’t you wearing different pants earlier tonight?”

“Yes,” Danny says, and grins as Isaac cracks up in the seat next to him.

*

“Star Wars!” Stiles yells, brandishing the DVD. “Scott - it’s time.”

“Wait,” Danny says, his eyes wide with disbelief, “you’ve never seen _Star Wars_?”

“ _I know, dude_ ,” Stiles says.

Scott rolls his eyes. “Okay, I guess you’ve earned it. Pop it in.”

“Oh, I am popping it in, my friend,” Stiles says, oblivious to the innuendo. “I am _popping this shit in so hard_.”

“I know,” Lydia says when he catches her eye, stifling a laugh. “Just go with it.” She smiles and Danny tugs Isaac closer on the couch, his fingers curling into the soft cotton of his t-shirt. Isaac rests his head back on Danny’s shoulder and bumps his knee against Scott’s. He falls asleep somewhere around the garbage crusher scene, and when Danny looks away from his sleeping face, Scott is watching him, smiling.

“What?”

“Nothing, you’re just. Cute,” Scott tells him, and Danny feels himself relax a fraction. “He’s been... better, this month. So, thanks.”

“Any time,” Danny says, his chest suddenly tight with emotion. “He’s worth it.”

“Yeah he is,” Scott replies, and then Stiles is pelting them with popcorn. 

“Dudes, _focus_ , this is important cinematic history here.”

So movie night at Stiles’s place is fun, which is weird. But it looks like Danny’s life is going to be a series of weird shit now. Isaac stirs awake and blinks up at Danny with a sleepy grin.

Danny’s pretty sure he can get used to it.


End file.
